While looking for some gossip, I found an interview with Peter Jackson (The Hobbit), and it includes a little mention of Matthew….

4. Jackson did lose Martin Freeman at one point to the BBC series “Sherlock Holmes” and even had to consider different actors for the lead.
This you probably already know if you’ve been following “The Hobbit” gestation closely, but it’s interesting to hear how downcast Jackson was and how much the film was delayed until it could find another actor. Or rather, keep waiting for the right one in Martin Freeman. “We couldn’t tell Martin our dates until after the MGM situation was sorted out, which was the reason Guillermo ultimately left,” Jackson said of the project’s uncertainty at the time. As a greenlight approached, Freeman had to officially decline the role to get ready for the second season of “Sherlock Holmes.” Jackson scoured audition tapes for a backup (Matthew Goode is one of the few actors who admits he auditioned), but nobody stuck like Freeman. Jackson would watch the first season of ‘Holmes’ to torture himself and was completely “miserable.” Eventually he took matters into his own hands. “I called Martin’s agent myself: could he ask Martin if we could make Bilbo work around ‘Sherlock’? Freeman quickly agreed and the production began mapping out a reconfigured shoot which would allow the new Bilbo Baggins to return to the U.K. for his scheduled BBC shoot.

Source: IndieWire

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